Authors
Shardesh Kumar Chaurasia, Nishi Kant Bhardwaj, Satya Pal Singh
Published in
Environmental science and pollution research international. Jul 13, 2026. Epub Jul 13, 2026.
Abstract
Suitable process technologies need to be identified and adapted for effective pulping of different raw materials in the paper industry. The present study focuses on the effects of biological and mechanical pretreatments on kraft pulping of Melocanna baccifera. The biological pretreatment with the fungus Trametes versicolor was optimized using a special experimental design through STATISTICA 7. The optimal conditions were 25 °C, 60% moisture, and 10.5 days for untreated chips and 25 °C, 80% moisture, and 21 days for defibrated chips. Such conditions improved lignin breakdown and enzyme activity. Subsequently, kraft pulping was carried out using a two-factor experimental design. The results showed that biologically treated and defibrated chips achieved lower kappa numbers than intact untreated chips at every cooking condition tested. Under comparable cooking conditions (18% active alkali, 22% sulfidity, 160 °C, 60 and 90 min), the kappa number of treated defibrated chips decreased from 18.11 to 11.03 at 60 min and from 15.07 to 9.22 at 90 min, corresponding to an average iso-condition reduction of about 40% relative to untreated chips. This improvement came from the combined benefits of mechanical defibration and fungal pretreatment. When defibrated chips were cooked for 75 min with 18% active alkali, the kappa number dropped to 10.07, with a screened yield of 43.49%. This value was about 40.8% lower than the kappa number of untreated chips, showing a major improvement in delignification efficiency.
PMID:
42437831
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Jul 2026.
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